The Marauders
by volghen
Summary: Harry Potter Au. Claudine is looking for Maya in the corridors, they were supposed to meet after dinner but Maya never came. The drawing in the profile is from the talented @angerykacchan! ;D


**Decided to gift this to ChouetteLyrique, who has inspired me. Her Son Phénix fic ****in AO3 is incredible. Thank you! You guys need to read it.**

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Claudine's mind returned to a certain brunette girl, who hadn't shown up to their daily meeting. A patrol meeting, Claudine corrected herself. She was going to be the best patrol, better than Tendou.

She walked over the old ground with her coat trailing behind her. Maybe Maya was talking with the portraits again. How did she manage to have long conversations with the people painted? The question rebounded across the corners of her mind.

Some of them were sympathetic, even she had made small talk with them before, but Tendou always talked with the weird ones, most of whom were Slytherins. It took her way too long to discover that she wasn't learning dark secrets (from the devils) but art advice.

A big smug smile would draw on her face every time she had the chance to tease her, and Maya, without any other option, jaw tense, would just roll her eyes, her cheeks stained red like roses.

Maya was terrible in art as a certain devil bluenette said. The teacher had thought in one of the classes that Tendou was doing dark Magic, expressing her desires with her black heart like all her Slytherin ancestors.

And like with all other serious business, Kaoruko had laughed so hard that she fell off the chair, breaking some jars on the way down. Slytherin had lost fifty points that day.

The torches lit up as Claudine advanced. She climbed the staircase and asked the portraits along the corridors if they had seen the Tendou heiress. Some of them had disappeared from their paintings, while others didn't bother to answer, ignoring her and going to back to sleep.

Well, Claudine couldn't either blame them, it was really late and tomorrow she has to wake up early for her potions class. Where on earth was that annoying woman?

After searching through the tower twice, she decided to use her Patronus to light up the hallway. She whispered the small enchantment, and a stream of light came out of the end of her wand in the shape of a silver animal.

The majestic light form flew away to the end of the corridor. Her wings flapped through the air, turning and coming back to her holder like a boomerang.

A beautiful Phoenix over her shoulder was suiting with her peak her feathers of light.

Claudine lifted her chin and raised her arm, and the creature slipped her claws over her wrist, never touching her body. If the Phoenix were real, the blonde was sure that the claws would have left a mark on her skin. Claudine wanted to cuddle the feathers of her head.

"Find her."

Her wings spread again, and with a wink of an eye, her Patronus flew through the hallway and vanished from Claudine's sight.

The Phoenix was familiar with Maya, so it was faster for her Patronus to find the brunette. Maybe Claudine would find Maya's Patronus, a big swan, fluttering her wings.

She abruptly stopped in the corridor, covering her face with her hands. The memory of Maya's Patronus burning intently in her mind (and on her cheeks).

That was the first time she had beaten her in an enchantment, pride consuming her like a forest fire, almost unstoppable. Oh, but her brightest triumph didn't last too long for her own satisfaction. Claudine had found out later the happy memory Maya had used to conjure the Patronus.

That arrogant woman, totally shameless.

Claudine had wanted to ask her after a Quidditch match. Gryffindor had played Hufflepuff. It was rough, but they had managed to win. Claudine had been radiant, her curly hair shining in the sunlight, she had congratulated Karen for having caught the snitch just in time. Before they could celebrate with a Butterbeer in the Gryffindor Tower, she had caught Tendou in the bleachers looking at her.

Maya had only given her a dreamy smile, eyes shining, cheeks scarlet. Her scarf had been blowing in the wind, and in her hands had been a small orange flag.

Now, it didn't take too long for her to make the pieces of the puzzle fit together, Claudine had enough experience to understand.

The next day when she saw Tendou again in the Herbology class, Claudine had sat next to her. Maya had told her she could beat all those pretty flowers with only her smile. Her ears had blushed, her lips had trembled and no sound had come out of her mouth.

She had cursed her in a low voice during the break with Futaba laughing behind her. Kaoruko being the devil like always had mocked her, telling her that her pretty smile motivated Maya to make the enchantment.

Claudine decided to keep walking, looking at the portraits around her. Light flashed in the corner of her eye and she caught a shape in motion. Her Patronus was coming back to her.

She was also aware of Maya's fear. Almost absurd, that those ghosts were the fear of even the most fearsome purebloods of Hogwarts.

The Phoenix looked at her and then turned around, wanting her to follow, showing her the way with her beak. Claudine walked faster, passing by the Astronomy Tower, trying to keep up the pace.

When she finally found her, she was leaning against the wall by the Potion Classroom.

"Maya?"

Maya turned around. "Oh, Claudine, how delightful to see you here."

"What do you mean, you vexing woman? We were supposed to meet near the transfiguration courtyard!"

Maya had a perfect poker face, but Claudine noticed the change of her eyes, a spark of surprise in those lilac eyes. The next words slid slowly out of her lips as if it was a device about to explode. "I'm afraid...that I'd forgotten about our appointment, as you can see."

"You ditched me," She said quietly. The audacity! How dare she?

Huh. Maya didn't like that tone or the intense glare she was throwing at her, those so beloved eyes of her bubbling like a crater about to blow up.

Before Claudine could give her a piece of her mind, something between Maya's finger caught her eyes. A blank piece of paper with a red bow around it.

"It came after dinner." It was too late for Maya to hide the letter behind her back, neither was it worth it to hide it from Claudine. If she couldn't trust her, she couldn't trust anyone.

Maya had been trying to put the matter aside each time it showed up, like when they had been in the Great Hall with a bunch of letters and her owl had appeared with many of them in her beak. It was completely normal, despite the fact that Maya had never gotten letters from anyone besides her parents, and even that only rarely.

Claudine waited. At first, she didn't want to force her to talk. Personal space was sacred. but it wasn't the first time she had caught her in the act.

Knowing Maya, she'd probably dismiss the matter, keeping it to herself, and if Claudine didn't insist she would never say anything. It was time to put the facts on the table.

"Maya."

Tendou stayed still, with her fathomless lilac gaze, lips slightly pursed. Claudine could see the internal battle inside her mind as if talking out loud would make her in every way uncomfortable.

They had been hanging out for years, and it had become a bit easier now to read the small trace of Maya's emotions.

Squeak Squeak

Before Claudine could open her mouth again, the sound echoed through the corridors. Both witches exchanged glares, looking forward to finding the intruder.

Maya narrowed her eyes. A cute little mouse stood a few meters from them with her big light brown ears. The mouse's whiskers shook when she sniffed the air with her small white nose.

What a beautiful creature.

Claudine was looking at the rat, squeezing her eyes and with a loading circle spinning like the clock hands in her mind. Her eyes suddenly opened with a Pop. Maya crouched to the ground to see better the mouse, about to caress her head when she felt behind her a heavy presence. Maya's smile faltered, and even the mouse began to move her little paws with fear in her black eyes.

The blonde looked them, about to unleash her anger. Maya could hear the red alarms in her head.

She looked Claudine in the eye. "It just a mouse, Claudine, calm down."

Uh uh. The mouse looked at Claudine as if she had become a huge cat about to eat her alive at any moment. She hid behind the Slytherin witch, using her as a human shield.

"That disrespectful animal is nothing less than your roommate Kaoruko." The venom flowed out in her voice.

Maya blinked, giving the mouse an imposing look. That was how she managed to discover dirty secrets about everyone. Bold move. "Don't encourage her!" The Animagus made a strange noise as if she was giggling through the nose. "That is it. I'm going to transform you into an ugly mug."

"No." Maya stood up, flattening out the wrinkles in her coat. "We don't want to wake up our classmates, do we?" Maya could practically see Claudine exhaling smoke from her nose.

"Kaoruko." Maya said in a deep voice. Claudine just rolled her eyes, throwing her arms above her head. Unbelievable. "Ten points would be taken from Slytherin, for wandering the corridors at night." Maya could feel the smug smile on Claudine's lips behind her, changing her mood. She'd take five points for Claudine, saving her the work.

Claudine watched everything like a hawk. If Kaoruko mocked her, Claudine would show her she could do better work, even now that she was a Prefect. They were playing the cat and mouse game.

Oh, the irony.

Now that she thought about it, it should've been more like a Phoenix and a mouse, considering the fact that the Gryffindor witch was an Animagus too.

Maya even dared to say that the blonde had become a little more arrogant now with all the eyes on her. She was popular enough to begin with, and the extra authority just added fuel to the fire.

Even with that, Maya still beat her in everything. Fufu

By now, the rodent had become an angry fluffy ball, sniffing the air in annoyance. She turned around, leaving the two Prefects alone, running with her little paws to the Slytherin Dungeon.

Really cute ~

"We should keep going." Claudine walked next to her, with her Patronus already gone.

Maya internally sighed. There would be a time when she'd tell her, but for now, she just had to wait.

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**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry for the Grammar mistakes, English isn't my mother tongue x) I'd appreciate any kind of corrections. I was afraid of don't be able to write well the characters. **


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